None.
This invention relates to heated assemblies for use in food preparation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a super-thin, lightweight restaurant griddle.
Hot plates, electric frying pans, and the like are well known within the fields of domestic cooking and institutional food service preparation and service. Such devices commonly include a thermally conductive surface, electrical heating rods or an electrical heating foil underneath the surface for heating it, thermal insulation to contain the heat created by the electrical rods or heating foil, and a shell for containing the foregoing elements. U.S. Pat. No. 2,152,126 issued to Young discloses a heating device which uses a copper plate or disc and a coiled heating unit. U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,050 issued to Kicherer discloses a hot plate which uses a thin resistive material film to heat the hot plate. Resistive films have been used in similar applications. U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,596 issued to Howie discloses an electrical cookware heater in which a foil heater is adhesively bonded to a dielectric substance which is in turn adhesively bonded to a ceramic glass cooking surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,807 issued to Yahav et al. discloses a domestic cooking apparatus with a cooking surface, an electrically insulative layer below the cooking surface, a foil heating element below the insulative layer, a thermal and electrical insulation layer below that, and a support layer, with the latter elements being biased up against the cooking surface by a spring.
In accordance with the present invention, a novel construction for a cooking apparatus is provided which allows the apparatus to be extremely thin yet reach and maintain a relatively high temperature. In an exemplary embodiment, the entire assembly stands only approximately 3.8 centimeters tall, but is capable of heating food to over 400 degrees F. In the embodiment, a metal plate made of a highly thermally conductive material such as aluminum forms the cooking surface. Bonded to the cooking surface and immediately below it is a very thin flexible heating blanket. In the embodiment, the heating blanket is made of silicone rubber with a structural reinforcing material for strength such as glass fibers embedded therein, and resistive heating elements also embedded with the silicone sheet. The aluminum plate is fastened to a stainless steel base. The base does not directly contact either the aluminum plate or the heating blanket. Within the base is a high temperature ceramic fiber insulation material which is capable of withstanding very high temperatures without degradation. A separate high temperature insulator also acts as a standoff to separate the aluminum plate from the base to which it is affixed. Because the unit is so thin it is advantageous to mount a temperature controller such as an on-off switch or a variable temperature controller externally to the unit. The unit can thus take up only a very small amount of vertical space on a countertop or when mounted as a shelf or on a shelf, with the controller being mounted somewhere where vertical space is not at such a premium, such as on a vertical wall or vertical member which otherwise represents unused vertical area.
In one aspect, therefore, the invention is of a super thin yet high temperature assembly for heating food which includes a generally flat metal plate having a top surface and an underside for directly contacting a food item placed on the top surface, a thin fiberglass reinforced silicone heating blanket vulcanized or otherwise adhered to the underside of the metal plate with the heating blanket covering most of the underside of the metal plate, a stainless steel base having sides which bend upwards and underneath at least a portion of the metal plate, a high temperature ceramic insulation material within the base, a second high temperature insulation material disposed between the metal plate and the top wall of the base in a region in which the metal plate overlies the top wall, the assembly being very thin, with a power controller for controlling the power which is dissipated within the heating blanket being spatially separated from the rest of the unit and mounted separately.